Recipe from Bryant Terry
Adapted by Tejal Rao
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- 4(408)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Bryant Terry, an Oakland, Calif., chef with two young daughters, developed this recipe to make eating broccoli a treat. It worked: Blanched and puréed with lemon, garlic and a little of what he calls “umami powder,” the broccoli transforms into a deeply flavorful vegan spread that’s also highly adaptable. Thin it with pasta water and toss it with hot noodles, as seen here, or scrape it into a bowl as a dip for crudités. Spread it onto a thick piece of toast and cover it with sliced radishes, dill and crunchy salt. Use some to drown a softly poached egg, drizzle with olive oil, and eat with a spoon, or to dress warm white beans, then shower them with black pepper and grated cheese. Whatever you do, don’t skip rinsing the broccoli with cold water after you blanch it; the step keeps the spread a vibrant green. —Tejal Rao
Featured in: This Broccoli-Dill Pasta Has a Hippie Twist. Your Kids Will Love It.
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Ingredients
Yield:2 to 4 servings, plus extra umami powder
- ¾ounce dried porcini mushrooms, roughly chopped
- ¾cup whole raw cashews
- 3tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2tablespoons raw pine nuts
- 1teaspoon fine sea salt
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1medium head broccoli, cut into florets, thick stem reserved for another use
- 8ounces dried pasta, such as spaghetti
- ½cup loosely packed roughly chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish
- 1large garlic clove, minced
- ⅓cup umami powder
- ½cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Fresh lemon juice, as needed
For the Umami Powder
For the Sauce
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
Step
2
Prepare the umami powder: Grind the porcini in a spice grinder until pulverized, then transfer to a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and pulse until the mixture is broken down into a fine meal. Transfer to a jar or lidded container. (Makes about 1¼ cups.)
Step
3
Prepare the pasta: Season the boiling water with salt, then add the broccoli and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the broccoli, then rinse with cold water and gently pat dry with a clean kitchen towel. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until tender.
Step
4
While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce: In the same food processor (no need to wash it out), combine the cooked broccoli, dill, garlic and ⅓ cup umami powder; process until finely chopped. With the machine running, slowly pour in the oil. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula, and blend again, then season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Step
5
Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water and drain the cooked pasta. Return the pasta to the pot, and toss with broccoli sauce, thinning with a splash of the reserved pasta water if needed to help coat the pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with a sprinkle of umami powder and fresh dill.
Ratings
4
out of 5
408
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Cooking Notes
KBP
I'd love a recession friendly substitute for the pine nuts, and I'm sure others would as well!
Apples'nOranges
Recession friendly substitute for pine nuts: half raw pumpkin seeds, half roasted sunflower seeds. Good for pesto.
Jon Schneider
We had neither broccoli nor dill so I used farmer's market spinach and cilantro (slightly past its prime) instead. I did have all of the ingredients for the umami even porcini from last season's haul. The result was the consistency of a pesto and truly excellent! The umami is a revelation and will be a kitchen staple!
MS11218
Really delicious and easy. And I’m glad to have leftover umami powder. Didn’t have broccoli, so subbed in broccoli rabe and kale and that worked well. For folks asking about a pinenut sub, walnuts work well for that. (Also, even though I’m not a vegan, I’m a longtime fan of nutritional yeast on popcorn!)
karen w
I did not like this dish at all. It is easy to make but tastes like a mush mash of ingredients that didn’t go together at all. It was quite rich due to the cashews and the mushroom flavor was overwhelming. I would not have paired it with dill— maybe thyme or oregano and a lot more pepper. I would not make it again.
NJ
We really liked this! I used Trader Joe's Umami Powder instead of making my own. I sweated some mushrooms and toasted pine nuts and added them at the end to vary the texture a bit. Will definitely make again.
AnnieB
Made this tonight and loved it! Our market didn’t have pine nuts so we did without. I had loads of fresh dill so added an extra half cup and used the juice of one lemon. Finished with fresh pepper and more salt. My twelve year old and husband called it “bright and healthy tasting” and had no idea that broccoli was the secret vegetable. Will make again and plan to add a bit more lemon and maybe some red pepper flakes. Thanks for the inspiration!
NC NY
This was delicious! I had broccoli and dill to use up, I didn’t have any pine nuts so just omitted them and it was really impressive, very tasty, easy to pull together and nutritious! I also served it with GF brown rice spaghetti, perfectly Al dente. I plan to freeze the remaining sauce and eat again next week!
Louis L
I cooked this recipe on a friday night and the taste is good, but lacked a «wow». My daughter is difficult and she barely ate. Disappointement.
Laura
Maybe my broccoli was larger, but this definitely made enough sauce for 1lb of pasta. Be liberal with the lemon.
rena
What is umami powder?
Amirissa
I had high hopes for this unique recipe but the flavor profile just missed the mark completely. I played with changing the proportions of various ingredients within the sauce, and it did not work out at all.
bem
Oh my gosh no. The garlic, umami powder, broccoli…all are strong tastes that made this “sauce” overwhelming. I added more oil, white beans, sesame seeds & pecans blended into the sauce just to make it edible. Now it is a fairly decent pesto. I will not repeat this recipe!
Margot
I had umami powder from Amazon (mostly ground up sh*takes), and mixed 1 tablespoon of it in with about 1/3 cup of roasted almonds along with most of the cooked broccoli in the food processor. Then added some of the pasta water and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil (a half cup was clearly not necessary). Mixed it and the cooked pasta in the pan in which I had sauteed some quartered mushrooms with more pasta water, and served with leftover broccoli florets. It was quite good, and very easy.
Margot
I had umami powder from Amazon (mostly ground up sh*takes), and mixed 1 tablespoon of it in with about 1/3 cup of roasted almonds along with most of the cooked broccoli in the food processor. Then added some of the pasta water and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil (a half cup was clearly not necessary). Mixed it and the cooked pasta in the pan in which I had sauteed some quartered mushrooms with more pasta water, and served with leftover broccoli florets. It was quite good, and very easy.
Tara
Is there a reason, I could not dice the broccoli stems (I have used the florets for something else) and cook them a bit longer before processing them?
B
I tried the umami powder tonight substituting shiitake mushroom powder for the porcinis and pine nuts for the cashews. (Tomorrow I will try it with the broccoli and dill.) I did not expect much, but my 3 year old loved it. I sprinkled it on his raviolis, and he tried to eat the umami powder straight.
Brendan
Like others, I used the Trader Joe’s umami powder, but the ingredients of that made it clear that a 1-1 substitution wouldn’t go well. So instead, when making the broccoli sauce I threw in a couple of handfuls of cashews, 2 T of nutritional yeast, and about 1/2 T of umami powder. I didn’t have any lemons so I used a little red wine vinegar to bring some acid. The end result wasn’t the most amazing thing ever, but an easy and satisfying weeknight dinner.
Carrie
The umami powder is so good. I didn't have dried mushroom so I added extra nutritional yeast and umami seasoning blend from TJ. Used whatever nuts I had on had, I think it was almonds. And then I made the broccoli/dill sauce with it and used as a sauce for chicken. The umami powder is great sprinkled on just about anything
Twenty Something Amateur Chef
Very strong after taste. You will have to DILLigently brush your teeth after this
Tracy
That umami powder is the best popcorn spice! Omg. Walnuts are also a good replacement for pine nuts.
OceanBeachSF
Very interesting and pleasing flavors. A unique dish, indeed. I wanted more texture so I skipped processing the broccoli. I simply cut into small florets instead. Prepared the recipe to the letter otherwise. The umami powder is fantastic. I sprinkled the leftovers on a salad the next day - divine - and I still have some left!
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